Custom Mini Model Horses

 If you give me a choice between many layers of white paint and a solid-colored horse, I'd choose the solid color any day. Pintos, with their extensive white, have never been my go-to color.  Here are a few G1 customs from about 1998. I was in grad school and had access to an airbrush studio. I spent a lot of time there on weekends. Citation custom stablemate from about 1998 with haired mane and tail. Remember how popular haired horses used to be? Portrait horse custom stablemate from about 1998. Native dancer mold. The Native Dancer mold was one of my favorites back when G1 Stablemates were the only Stablemates. This portrait pinto may have been a gaited horse. I remember he got dropped at a show and his head broke off. I repaired him after the spill.

This little mule sports a roached mane and a bell tail—both made with soft hair. I think I might’ve started with Native Dancer (my favorite G1 mold). He’s been airbrushed and sprayed with Krylon. He was painted on my patio in San Diego where the weather was almost-always perfect for airbrushing outside. Vintage CM Native Dancer to mule custom mini by Sarah Tregay from late 1990’s

Another chestnut model... I might have been working on a theme. This is a G1 draft horse with some customizing. I would have heated up his little legs with a paint-removing gun—which was very hot and impossible to aim because it had a wide opening like a hair drier. His mane, tail and feathers are sculpted from Gapoxio (which got a bit lumpy and awkward in some places). He has a peg in one hoof and painted-on shoes. Vintage G1 Draft mini custom by Sarah Tregay from the late 1990’s

This is another Arabian type from the G1 series. I think she began as the Arabian Stallion mold. Airbrushed bright chestnut this Arab cross mare has a Krylon-style glossy finish. I remember trying to straighten the legs so the model wasn't leaning over it's knees, as well as working on gender characteristics to go from a stallion to a mare. The Gapoxio gave me trouble, as did the fine wire I used under the tail (it broke). I love how the tail is in a strong wind, but the mane is not. This is a San Diego era piece as well, dating from about 1997.

Awhile back, I heard through the grapevine that a hobbyist purchased one of my models. It was something I had done years before, and the comments were something along the line of a seam was showing or there was a brush stroke in the paint—or probably both! The gossipy tone of this news made me laugh. I am not perfect, nor has every piece I ever created been perfect. Maybe someday I'll get closer to that goal. So for all of you who are working on your craft and learning as you go, I'm going to share some photos of custom minis I've done over the years. When I first started customizing Stablemates, only G1 models were available. Here's an Arabian mare made from the Thoroughbred mare from my days in San Diego, CA (from 1995 to 1998). She is airbrushed a warm gray and sports four little socks and a blaze. Her mane and tail are very textured (remember Gapoxio? It didn't like me.) And the Krylon spray on her is rather shiny... maybe I was going for the Show Sheen look...